Can you blame him?
Professional BMX rider Dave Mirra is seeking a minimal amount of $21 million in “damages and injunctions” in an effort to prevent Acclaim from further advertising both Mirra’s name and likeness. The suit, filed last week, is based on Acclaim’s use of Mirra’s name in both print ads and promotions, despite supposed previous agreements to disassociate the biker from the title.
The suit alleges breach of contract, unfair competition, injury to reputation, false advertising and invasion of privacy. It is the latest blow to both Acclaim and BMX XXX, which several large retailers declined to stock during the holiday season because of nudity and other adult content. Acclaim edited out some of that material before BMX XXX hit the market.
Despite shipping over 3 million titles under the Dave Mirra brand, one of the most recent being acclaimed Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2, BMX XXX sold less than expected. As a result, Acclaim recently laid off staff, due to the comparatively lower revenue. Alan Lewis, a spokesman for Acclaim, called the suit “baseless”, and assured that the company would defend themselves “vigorously” against it.
But I would have to agree with you though. Hopefully this will force Acclaim to rethink their business plans and stop putting out games just for shock value. If they make a great game they won't need to resort to shady tactics to get the it to sell. It's a slap in the face to all of us when they pull the crap they have been up to lately. It seems like every game they have put out lately has had some controversy attached to it for one reason or another.
